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Eric Emmerling's College Notebook: St. Anselm skater Mullin scoring points off the ice

By ERIC EMMERLINGNew Hampshire Union Leader

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Tucker Mullin is a good collegiate hockey player championing a Hall of Fame life.

This past week, the St. Anselm College senior captain was selected as one of five national finalists for the prestigious 2013 BNY Mellon Wealth Management Hockey Humanitarian Award.

Seeking to recognize players that give back to their communities, the 18th annual Hockey Humanitarian Award is presented to college hockey's finest citizen that embodies the true humanitarian spirit. This year's award winner will be recognized in a special ceremony as part of the 2013 NCAA Men's Frozen Four in Pittsburgh, Pa. on April 12.

Mullin, a forward from Andover, Mass., was a Hockey Humanitarian Award finalist as a sophomore and junior. His many charitable endeavors overshadowed his four-year career hockey accomplishments that include 35 goals and 70 assists in 102 games.

The two-time team captain co-founded the Thomas E. Smith Fight to Cure Paralysis Foundation, helping raise over $51,000 and providing $34,700 in grants to support paralyzed individuals.

Onetime hockey opponents and teammates, Smith and Mullin developed a deep friendship and this nonprofit foundation while Smith overcame a paralyzing hockey injury only to be paralyzed again with a spinal injury at practice more than four years ago.

"(Mullin) is a doer. He's a giver. When recruiting him he wanted to make sure he would have time to work on this program," said St. Anselm hockey coach Ed Seney. "It's refreshing to see a guy that knows how life is not all about him."

Mullin has developed a "Massachusetts Cure Paralysis" license plate, the first-ever vanity license plate designed to benefit paralysis research. All proceeds generated from the license plate will support Invivo Therapeutics and their efforts developing scaffolding systems for patients with acute spinal cord injuries.

He's spread goodwill in other endeavors, serving as a student ambassador for Team IMPACT, a New England based non-profit that serves children facing life-threatening diseases by creating team-based support systems.

Mullin and his teammates have a special relationship with 9-year-old Benjamin Roy, who was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia pre-B cell in 2007, and defied long odds ever since. He's an inspirational source and a regular attendee at Hawks hockey games.

Away from hockey, Mullin befriended Roy, provided personable presence in the youngster's challenging life. Mullin was a guest at Roy's recent birthday party and his First Communion celebration.

On the ice, Mullin helped the Hawks (14-8-3, 4-1-0 NE-10) clinch the No. 1 seed in the Northeast-10 Conference Ice Hockey Championship. He's netted 10 goals and 12 assists this season, notching his 100th career point on Feb. 15.

The forward netted 36 points during his freshman year before losing most of his sophomore year to a serious knee injury.

"He played his junior season on one leg, basically," said Seney. "This year he's deal with reoccurring shoulder separations. He never complains. He leads by example, which is a pretty simple formula for success that a lot of people simply don't understand."

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1,000 POINT ACHIEVEMENT: Officials temporarily stopped play after Rosa Drummond sank a free throw late in the second half of an early February game. The Smith College coaching staff and teammates swarmed the junior forward from Rye (Portsmouth High School) who became the 10th player in school history to tally 1,000 career points.

"It could not have been more special," said the six-foot Drummond, a consistent and prolific Pioneers (22-3, 16-2 NEWMAC) scoring source. Presently, the power forward is the second-highest scorer (12.2 points) and rebounder (6.6 boards) on the team. She averaged 12.5 points a game while claiming NEWMAC Rookie of the Years honors as a freshman and 12.9 points a night as a first team all-conference selection last season.

A three-year varsity force at Portsmouth, Drummond has developed a strong post game at Smith College. She is able to post up defenders as well as generate accurate pull-up jumpers. Drummond's has also worked hard on her dribble drive.

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CENTRAL COMMODITIES: Two Manchester Central graduates have had hot hands.

Ashley Giampetruzzi, a Daniel Webster College freshman from Manchester, averaged 20 points and five rebounds during a recent two-game stretch. The 5-foot-8 guard has topped her team in scoring on eight occasions this season and also led the team in rebounding nine times. She's presently averaging 11.1 points and 6.8 rebounds a game. That's second best in both categories.

Over the past four games, Southern New Hampshire University's Mike Stys, a junior, swished 11 of 21 3-point shot attempts and averaged 13 points. For the season, the 6-foot-1 guard from Hooksett is averaging 11.9 points a game while shooting 41.1 percent from the field and 40.5 percent from the land of treys.

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A-CCOMPLISHMENT: Nordic skier Brianna McKinley, a freshman from Moultonborough, was one of nine Saint Michael's College athletes to post a 4.0 grade-point average last semester.

Eric Emmerling's New Hampshire College Notebook appears weekly in the New Hampshire Sunday News. Email him at eemmerling@unionleader.com.